How to Buy Cheap Homes

We
bought the house in the photo for $17,500 a dozen years ago in
a beautiful mountain town. You can read that story on our page
on buying a home in Anaconda,
Montana. Prices there went up quickly after this purchase,
but dropped again after the boom years -- a scenario repeated
in many places. Now, even with prices on the rise again around
the country, there are still a few nice towns with good homes
under $50,000, but we also cover affordable housing at higher
prices. Here are the pages where you'll want to start:

Houses Versus Condos in Southern Florida - Whether
you are moving to southern Florida to retire or for work, or
just looking for a second home in a warmer environment, if you
are buying rather than renting you have a choice to make. Will
you buy a house or a condominium? There are advantages and disadvantages
to each, and you'll find them explained below. Our comparison
is based on six... Continue
reading here...

Ten Ways to Increase Rental Income - If you
own a few rental houses, an apartment building, or other residential
income properties, you would probably like to increase your net
income. Who wouldn't? And the obvious way to boost your profit
is to just... Continue
reading here...

Selling Tip - When selling a property, you should
almost always put the price in the advertising. This keeps unqualified
buyers from wasting your time. Also, many potential buyers just
pass over ads without prices because the ones with prices are
more interesting. The only reason agents skip the price sometimes
is that selling your property is not any more important
than getting a phone call from a curious buyer who will buy some
property.

Lower Deposit - What if you don't want to tie
up cash in an earnest money deposit for an offer that may not
be accepted? Make it a two-part deposit. Give $1,000 in earnest
money, for example, but specify in the offer that this will be
increased to $3,000 once the offer is accepted, or an inspection,
appraisal or other contingency is met. This keeps your money
from being tied up until you know that the seller is serious
about selling to you.

Your Hometown Investing Advantage - When you
invest near where you live it's easier for you to see the trends
in home prices, employment, rental rates and other things that
will affect future prices. You will likely here about the new
employers coming to the area and notice the neighborhoods that
are declining or getting better before an outsider would, so
take advantage of your position.